But
as the riper ſhould by
time deceaſe,
His tender heire might beare his memory:
But thou contracted to thine owne bright eyes,
Feed'ſt thy lights flame with ſelfe ſubſtantiall fewell,
Making a famine where aboundance lies,
Thy ſelfe thy foe,to thy ſweet ſelfe too cruell:
Thou that art now the worlds freſh ornament,
And only herauld to the gaudy ſpring,
Within thine owne bud burieſt thy content,
And tender chorle makſt waſt in niggarding:
Pitty the world,or elſe this glutton be,
To eate the worlds due,by the graue and thee.

As the
opening sonnet of the sequence, this
one obviously has especial importance. It appears to look both before
and
after, into the future and the past.. It sets the tone for the
following
group of so called 'procreation' sonnets 1-17. In addition, many of the
compelling ideas of the later sonnets are first sketched out here - the
youth's beauty, his vulnerability in the face of time's cruel
processes,
his potential for harm, to the world, and to himself, (perhaps also to
his
lovers), nature's beauty, which is dull in comparison to his, the
threat
of disease and cankers, the folly of being miserly, the need to see the
world in a larger sense than through one's own restricted vision.

'Fair youth, be not
churlish, be not self-centred,
but go forth and fill the world with images of yourself, with heirs to
replace
you. Because of your beauty you owe the world a recompense, which now
you
are devouring as if you were an enemy to yourself. Take pity on the
world,
and do not, in utter selfish miserliness, allow yourself to become a
perverted
and self destructive object who eats up his own posterity'.

increase
= procreation , offspring. A reference also to
the increase
of the harvest, by which one seed of corn becomes many. There is a
general
presumption in husbandry that the best stock must always be used in
breeding,
otherwise there is an overall decline and failure in productivity. The
fairest
creatures are therefore the fairest cattle, the best plants, the most
excellent
poultry, and so on.. Whatever in fact is as good as, or an improvement
on
the previous generation. Basically this is a farming or agricultarist
metaphor.
In his later years Shakespeare seems to have been interested in the
nature/nurture
discussion. There is the famous passage in Winter's Tale, which is
probably
relevant here, in which Polixenes instructs Perdita on the science of
breeding
flowers. WT.IV.4.79-103. (See the end of this page).

2. That thereby
beauty's
rose might never die,

2. thereby
= in that way, by that means.
beauty's rose The rosewas
symbolic of all
things beautiful. By reproducing itself it could, in a sense, become
immortal.

3. But as the
riper should
by time decease,

3. riper
= older,
more mature,
(person, plant, thing) more ready for harvesting. by
time decease
= die in the
course of time.

4. His tender heir
might
bear his memory:

4.tender = young, delicate, soft. (Often applied
to young animals).
bear
his memory
- as an imprint
taken from a seal;
also with the sense of 'bearing a child', so that the heir carries on
the
memory of parents through the generations.

5.
But thou contracted
to thine own bright eyes,

5.contracted = being contracted to, under
obligation to (in a legal
sense). It also conveys the sense of compressed, curtailed, restricted.
Cf. Ham.I.ii.3-4.
...and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe,
However it is difficult to see exactly what contracted to
thine own bright
eyes means, although the glossarists cite the example of
Narcissus from
classical literature, who died having fallen in love with his own
beauteous
reflection in water. The general sense seems to be that of one who is
perpetually
pre-occupied with his own concerns, looking upon himself, and being
under
contract to pursue his own interests. See further discussions Sonnet
1

6.
Feed'st thy light's
flame with self-substantial fuel,

6. Feed'st
thy light's flame
=
provides sustenance for the flame that gives light. Candles, tapers and
oil lamps were the only source of light in Shakespeare's day.self-substantial
fuel = fuel from its own body. Although the general sense of
this line
seems to be that of a fire or lamp burning up fuel, there are
difficulties
of interpretation. After all, how is a candle meant to feed itself,
other
than with itself? The suggestion is that the fuel should be renewable.
It
implies a criticism of the youth, who is intent on devouring himself
and
his future hope. See further discussions Sonnet
1

7.
Making a famine
where abundance lies,

7. famine
- emptiness, starvation, lack
of provision for posterity. abundance
- presumably
a reference to the youth's rich qualities, in contrast to the famine
which
he threatens to create. Famines and glut were part of the usual cycle
of
life in the Elizabethan world. A poor harvest could mean starvation for
many, as the storage facilities which we take for granted were unknown
in
those times.

8. Thy self thy
foe, to
thy sweet self too cruel:

8. Thy
self thy foe = being an enemy
to yourself. to
thy sweet self too cruel
- by refusing to procreate, hence denying a future to
yourself. 'You are being cruel to yourself in seeking your own
extinction'.

9. Thou that art
now the
world's fresh ornament,

9. the
world's fresh ornament = a fresh
and youthful glory to the world.

10.
And only herald
to the gaudy spring,

10. only
= most important, chief, unique.
herald
= one who announces, a messenger. Shakespeare elsewhere calls the lark
the
herald of the morn, and the owl the herald of night. It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east: RJ.III.5.6-8.

gaudy = bright,
colourful (not necessarily
vulgar).

11.
Within thine own
bud buriest thy content,

11. content
= substance. Also, probably,
pleasure. GBE suggests that content also =
semen, and probably
there is here a secondary meaning of masturbation, self-pleasure, as
opposed
to the pleasure of procreation. SB mentions that Shakespeare exploits
the
possibility that rosebuds were phallic in appearance. (p.324. note to
12-13).
Content(s) even today has the double meaning
of a) happiness, pleasure,
and b) that which is contained in something.

13.this glutton = a glutton like this, i.e, such
as I am about to describe,
one who eats his own share as well as the world's.

14. To
eat the world's due,
by the grave and thee.

14. by
the grave and thee.
Presumably, a duty owed to the world because the grave is all
devouring,
and therefore to be fought; and a duty owed also to yourself, because
it
is in the nature of things that beauty should procreate, otherwise
'three
score years will bear the world away', and so on. You purpose to be
such
a glutton as to consume both what the world and you yourself should
have
as a right. The construction is not noticeably opaque until one starts
to
analyse it.

A
discussion of eugenics by Shakespeare - the nature-nurture
controversy. From The Winter's Tale, IV.4.79-103.

PERDITASir,
the year
growing ancient,
Not yet on summer's death, nor on the birth
Of trembling winter, the fairest flowers o' the season
Are our carnations and streak'd gillyvors,
Which some call nature's bastards: of that kind
Our rustic garden's barren; and I care not
To get slips of them. POLIXENES Wherefore, gentle maiden,
Do you neglect them? PERDITA
For I have heard it said
There is an art which in their piedness shares
With great creating nature. POLIXENES
Say there be;
Yet nature is made better by no mean
But nature makes that mean: so, over that art
Which you say adds to nature, is an art
That nature makes. You see, sweet maid, we marry
A gentler scion to the wildest stock,
And make conceive a bark of baser kind
By bud of nobler race: this is an art
Which does mend nature, change it rather, but
The art itself is nature. PERDITA
So it is. POLIXENES
Then make your garden rich
in gillyvors, And do
not call them bastards. PERDITA
I'll not put
The dibble in earth to set one slip of them;
No more than were I painted I would wish
This youth should say 'twere well and only therefore
Desire to breed by me.